


knee deep in flowers we'll stray

by abellyofjelly



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Basically, Farmer's Market AU, M/M, is more accurate but isn't a common tag, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 08:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20060926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abellyofjelly/pseuds/abellyofjelly
Summary: “What kind of flowers does she like?” the guy asks.“Uh, purple?” Charlie tries.The guy smiles at him, but it’s not mocking like the tomato man, it’s gentle and soft, “Purple. I can work with that.”.Or the one where Charlie keeps finding reasons to buy flowers from the cute guy at the farmer's market.





	knee deep in flowers we'll stray

**Author's Note:**

  * For [petrichories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/petrichories/gifts).

> Title from Tip Toe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim because I really am a full meme of a human being. 
> 
> Dedicated to Stacey for a million reasons, a few of which I'll list here:  
1\. She prompted this when I was having the worst airport experience of my life, and she had to try to send the message like 5 times because it kept breaking, but she persisted because she knew I was desperate for distractions  
2\. She read A Lot of it when I was working on it and cheered me on the whole way  
3\. She sends me cryptid Sean pictures when I need them which really is some of the best emotional support when I'm writing/existing in general  
4\. Just genuinely being a gem and an amazing friend. You deserve all the fic you want to see in the world!

Charlie only goes to the farmer’s market to buy cinnamon rolls from the Mennonite woman who sells them. It’s not that he doesn’t like fresh fruits and vegetables, it’s just that the people selling them always make him feel a bit dumb and out of his element, like he should have an intimate knowledge of the beautiful qualities of heirloom tomatoes. But Sarah was the only person in the world who made cinnamon rolls as good as his grandma, and so he wakes up early on Saturday mornings to go buy them from her and then leaves before he can embarrass himself.

That usual method is ruined when he’s walking out of the farmer’s market and happens to glance and see one of the most attractive men he’s ever seen in his life. He’s wearing a flannel button up and has a beard that looks so soft, and Charlie wants to feel it against his face. It’s been a while, too long really, since he felt a beard against his face, and this one looks perfect.

He finds his legs carrying himself over to the stand before his eyes even leave the man long enough to see what’s being sold, and then the man is smiling at him, bright and happy in the early morning light.

“Hi, how can I help you today?” the guy asks.

Charlie looks around frantically and sees the the sign reading ‘Gryz’s Flowers’ and the bouquets on the table, “I would like to buy some flowers.”

The guy laughs, but not in a mean way, a soft chuckle, “I kinda figured. Are they for a special occasion? A gift?”

“Yeah uh, for my mom,” Charlie says, ignoring the fact that his mom lives hours away from him, and then cursing himself for coming up with a cooler reason to buy flowers than his mom.

“What kind of flowers does she like?” the guy asks.

“Uh, purple?” Charlie tries.

The guy smiles at him, but it’s not mocking like the tomato man, it’s gentle and soft, “Purple. I can work with that.”

He turns back to his truck, hops in and grabs a handful of flowers before stepping back out and getting to work on a quick arrangement. It’s beautiful, and Charlie kind of likes the idea of being able to place them in his kitchen window.

“That look nice for you?” the guy asks, gently wrapping them in paper to give to Charlie.

“It’s amazing,” Charlie says because it is, “you have like, a gift.”

The guy ducks his head, shy in a way that is absolutely endearing, “Thanks. Hope your mom likes them too.”

Charlie nods and gives the guy some cash for the arrangement and fights the urge to ask for his number. It’s his place of work, and Charlie definitely didn’t want to be that guy. He goes home and finds a tall glass to put the flowers in, wondering if it would be silly to run by Target to grab a vase later. He eats his cinnamon roll and looks at the flowers and decides it wouldn’t be that silly to buy a vase if he was going to buy more flowers to put in it at a later date.

.

Charlie goes back to the farmer’s market the next Saturday to get his cinnamon rolls, having mostly forgotten about the flower guy (read: barely at all). He had had an empty vase sitting sadly on his kitchen window since Tuesday because the flowers had wilted after only a few days. When he’d called his mom upset about it, she’d asked him if he’d remembered to put the flowers in water.

So, Charlie might not have great instincts when it comes to taking care of flowers, but he was pretty determined to do a better job this time.

He buys his cinnamon rolls from Sarah and goes back to the flower stand.

Flower guy smiles at him, “Hey, did your mom like the flowers?”

Charlie is confused for a solid fifteen seconds before remembering his lie, “Oh yeah, she really liked them. Loved them, even.”

“I’m glad to hear it. You here to get some more?”

Charlie nods, “Yeah, I wanted some for my friend, Jake. He just got in a car accident for like the third time this year.”

The guy makes a wincing face, “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he just hasn’t quite figured out parallel parking”

“What colors would you like this time?”

“He likes yellow and orange,” Charlie says confidently.

The car accident story is true, and it’s also true that Jake’s favorite colors are yellow and orange, but the flowers are definitely not going to Jake. If anything, Charlie deserves them even more for dealing with all of Jake’s whining in the past week.

When flower guy finishes up the arrangement he says, “You know, I sell little cards too if you wanted to attach one to it for your friend.”

Charlie says sure, and the guy pulls out a little card and a pen which- Charlie wasn’t a flower buying expert, but he kind of expected to fill it out himself.

The guy writes Jake down next the to line and then asks, “And your name?”

“Oh it’s Charlie, but write down Chuck.”

Flower guy asks, “Do all your friends call you Chuck?”

“Well Jake calls me Cheeks actually, but” Charlie cuts himself off, blushing and embarrassed at his inability to ever shut his mouth.

“Cheeks, huh? I see it,” and Charlie doesn’t know what to do with that, so luckily the guy continues, “I’m Matt.”

Charlie hands over the cash for the flowers, “Well, thanks Matt.”

Matt nods, gives a half wave, “See you around, Charlie.”

.

Charlie actually watched a youtube video about caring for flowers, so the flowers make it the whole week this time. He cuts the stems at an angle every couple days, so they can absorb more water and keeps a cautious eye on the water levels too.

Sarah grins at him when he buys his cinnamon rolls this week. She told him once that he looked like a younger brother he’d had that had gotten married and moved to Iowa, and since Charlie had been buying from her for months now, they’d developed the kind of easy friendship you have when you see someone for a couple minutes once a week.

“I see that you’ve been buying flowers after leaving my stand,” she says, “someone special to give them to?”

Charlie stammers, unsure how to answer partially out of embarrassment and partially out of a worry that if Sarah knew what gender of people he wanted to give flowers to, she might not sell to him again, “No, no, no one special.”

Sarah quirks a smile like she doesn’t quite believe him and sends him on his way. He momentarily considers skipping out on the flowers this week, but he catches Matt’s eye, and the force of Matt’s smile is too much to walk past.

“How’s your friend’s car doing?” Matt asks, and the fact that he remembers makes Charlie feel kind of light-headed.

“It’s uh, still dented. But he’s driving it again. And parking it too, unfortunately.”

“That’s good to hear,” Matt says, “Are you planning on buying flowers again, or did you just stop by to say hey?”

What kind of a weirdo would go to a flower stand just to say hi to the owner that they don’t even know? Charlie, apparently, but he doesn’t want Matt to know that yet.

“I wanted some flowers for the, uh, Bruins.”

Matt’s eyebrows raise practically into his forehead, “You’re buying flowers for the Bruins?”

Charlie blushes, “Well I mean, not like to send to them. Just to, you know, celebrate them. Because they won last night.”

Matt is smiling at him, “Right, okay. And what kind were you thinking for your Bruins celebration flowers?”

“Yellow, probably,” and Matt nods and busies himself working, so Charlie decides to try to extend the conversation a bit, “Are you a Bruins fan?”

Matt nods, but doesn’t look up at Charlie, keeps his eyes on the arrangement, “Yeah, my dad works for them, so it was kind of my whole childhood.”

“That’s so cool! I was a Rangers fan growing up, but like, I’m all Bruins since college.”

“I’m glad,” Matt says, “Don’t know how I’d feel if I was asked to make a Rangers arrangement.”

Charlie laughs, “I would hate to compromise your artistic integrity.”

.

Charlie and Jake go out on Friday night to celebrate one year of being graduated by celebrating the exact way they’d celebrated a year ago- getting roaring drunk. Charlie is three beers past tipsy when he makes the mistake of telling Jake about Matt.

“So,” Jake says, a laugh in his eyes, “your long-term plan is to just keep buying flowers from him every week?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

“You’re not planning on asking him out at some point?”

“No, definitely not. That’d be weird.” Charlie says.

Jake rolls his eyes, “Yeah, super weird. Definitely not any weirder than continuously making up reasons to buy flowers you don’t want.”

“I want them!” Charlie protest, “I like having them in the window, and I’m getting really good at keeping them alive for longer.”

“Sure, sure. So, what’s your plan for tomorrow then? Am I going to be in the hospital this time?”

“No, I wouldn’t lie about something like that, fuck. I don’t really have a plan. Normally I just make it up as I get there.”

Jake’s faces screws up in contemplation, “What if you told him you’re celebrating a year since you graduated? That’s like, totally a thing to celebrate with flowers.”

Charlie nods and grins because there’s a reason Jake is his best friend, and no matter how many times Jake chirps him, he’ll always support him in his endeavors, no matter how foolish they are. He’s stuck thinking about how much he loves Jake when he sees Matt across the room. He blinks once, twice, five times, but he definitely isn’t drunk enough to be imagining the way Matt’s arm’s look as he leans against the bar.

He hits Jake’s arm, “That’s him.”

“That’s who?” Jake says, rubbing his arm.

“Matt! The flower guy! Over there in the white t-shirt. He’s so hot, holy shit.”

Jake looks at Matt appraisingly, “He _is_ hot. You have to go talk to him.”

“But, what do I even say?”

“You’ll figure it out as you get there,” Jake says, and shoves Charlie out of his chair.

Charlie stands up, and his head spins a bit. He’s drunker than he thought he was, but that could be a good thing- liquid courage and all that. Except, when he gets to where Matt is, he misjudges the last step a bit and knocks into him, sloshing Matt’s beer.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” he says automatically.

“That’s okay man, it happens,” Matt says before turning to see him. Charlie’s heart glows at the way Matt’s face lights up in a smile when he sees him, “Charlie! Nice to see you.”

“Yeah it’s nice to see you too. When you’re not um, selling me things. Not that I mind you selling me things, that’s okay.”

Matt laughs at that, “Had some to drink tonight, Charlie?”

“Yeah um, yeah we’re celebrating,” Charlie says, looking over at where Jake is staring at them and waggling his eyebrows, “Hey. Listen. I don’t just buy flowers from you because you’re hot.”

Matt’s eyes are filled with mirth, “That’s good to hear. I don’t just sell flowers to you because you’re hot.”

Charlie’s brain short-circuits at that because Matt thinks that he’s hot, and he’s pretty sure that was flirting, and maybe sober Charlie would know what to say, but drunk Charlie definitely doesn’t know how to do anything but grin.

“What are you celebrating?” Matt asks.

“It’s uh, one year, our one year since,” Charlie says, gesturing over to where Jake is sitting and watching them still, but he can’t think of the word for it, and he thinks he’ll sound stupid if he says one year since he had to put on a robe and walk across a stage.

“Oh. It’s your one year anniversary?” Matt asks.

“Yeah! Yeah, that’s it. One year anniversary since one year ago,” Charlie says, and he doesn’t understand why Matt stops smiling, but he doesn’t like it.

“Uh, congrats, that’s great for you guys. I’m going to uh- my friends are over there, so. It was good to see you, Charlie,” Matt says, clapping Charlie once on the arm and walking to a booth filled with guys.

Charlie frowns and walks back over to Jake, “I don’t think he likes me.”

“I dunno. He seemed pretty into it at first,” Jake says consolingly, “Here. You know what’ll help you feel better?”

“What?” Charlie asks.

“Another beer,” Jake says, hopping up to go to the bar.

Jake is the fucking _best_.

.

Jake is the fucking _worst_ is Charlie’s first thought when his alarm blares at 8:30 the next morning. His head hurts, and he’s perfectly willing to blame Jake for getting him so far past drunk. He groans, wondering why he even has an alarm set for Saturday before remembering the farmer’s market. And then the discussion he had with Matt comes rushing back to him. Fuck. He’d told Matt it was his _anniversary. _And gestured towards _Jake_.

There was absolutely no way on earth he didn’t get the wrong idea. Charlie seriously considers just going back to bed and staying there until he dies. About fifteen seconds into that plan, his stomach growls. Charlie sits up again and takes a breath. He shouldn’t have to change his whole Saturday routine just because he said something dumb when he was drunk. He deserves his Saturday morning cinnamon roll.

So, he gets out of bed, brushes his teeth, pops two Advil, and slides on his comfiest pair of joggers to head out the door and catch the T to the farmer’s market. On the way there, he gets on google to try to find a replacement flower shop because he really is going to miss having the flowers in his window. Except he scrolls through the website for the first place he finds in Boston and has to close out of it immediately because while the flowers are pretty, he definitely does not have that kind of money.

He walks quickly to Sarah’s stand, and she smiles when she sees him.

“Hey Sarah, good morning,” Charlie says.

“Good morning,” Sarah says, handing him a package with two cinnamon rolls.

“Oh, I just need one,” Charlie says because while he loves Sarah’s giant cinnamon rolls, two might actually send him straight to an early grave.

Sarah smiles fondly at him, “One is for your flower stand boy. On the house.”

“What?”

“I watch you when you leave my stand. And you said you have no one special to buy flowers for, so I wondered why you were buying so many flowers, but then I saw you talking to him and I realized.”

Charlie’s cheeks burn, “I kinda said something dumb the last time I saw him. I wasn’t planning on buying any flowers today.”

Sarah pats the package of cinnamon rolls, “Nothing these can’t fix.”

“Thank you, Sarah. So much.”

She smiles at him, “See you next week. Good luck!”

Charlie leaves the stand, carrying his cinnamon rolls, and means to march right up to Matt’s stand, but he hesitates. He briefly considers making a run for it and just never going back to the farmer’s market ever again so he never has to face Sarah or Matt, but in that moment Matt looks over and catches his eye. Matt smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m not in a relationship,” is the first thing out of Charlie’s mouth when he actually gets to the stand.

“Okay,” Matt says, sounding entirely unconvinced.

“No, I’m serious last night I was drunk off my ass when I said it was my one year anniversary. That guy I was with was my friend, Jake. We were celebrating one year since we graduated from college, I swear,” and Matt doesn’t react at all, so Charlie plows forward, “I wouldn’t have flirted with you if I was in a relationship. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Okay,” Matt says again, but he has a bit more of a smile this time, “So did you come here to buy flowers or…?”

“Sarah, she’s the woman over there that sells baked goods,” Charlie says, pointing at Sarah and when he glances over his shoulder, she is totally staring at them despite helping a customer, “She makes like, the best cinnamon rolls in the world. I get one every week. And I thought you might like one?”

Matt grins at him, “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Matt and Charlie sit on the back of Matt’s truck and eat the cinnamon rolls, Matt getting up every so often to help a customer. They talk about the Bruins and their families, Charlie’s job and Matt’s plans to expand his business into a real storefront one day. It’s kind of the best first date Charlie’s ever had, and it’s not even really a first date.

As the market closes, Matt starts to pack up his stuff, but Charlie lingers, “Would you like to go on a date sometime?”

Matt looks over at him, big smile, “Yeah, I would.”

Charlie kind of feels like punching his fist in the air like it’s the end of Breakfast Club. He holds off until he leaves the market and is certain he’s out of eyesight.

.

Matt actually comes up to Charlie’s apartment to pick him up for their first real date. He’s holding a bouquet, and Charlie isn’t sure if his heart melts more at that or the nervous smile Matt gives him when he holds them out.

“You didn’t tell me what color to go with, so I decided to do as many different ones as possible.”

Charlie takes the bouquet, and Matt’s wrist too, to guide him into Charlie’s apartment. They have dinner reservations soon, but he wants to show Matt his vase first and take a moment to appreciate all the beautiful colors in the flowers matching the colors of the sunset out the window.

**Author's Note:**

> Matt gives Charlie a bouquet of zinnias at the end. Zinnias are my favorite flower, and they come in SO many colors, and I am a self-indulgent writer.
> 
> The website Charlie goes to is Winston Flowers. I highly recommend scrolling through their flowers if you just want to look at pretty things, but they are unfathomably expensive. 
> 
> Ignore the fact that Charlie somehow lives alone in this piece. I don’t understand how he affords it either. 
> 
> If you liked it, leave a comment below!


End file.
